Amasa Hines: Live at Daytrotter, 2/20/16

There are few bands that specialize in live performances quite like Amasa Hines. We at Paste love this band—formed in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2010—to pieces. They made our list of 12 Arkansas Bands You Should Listen to Now and with good reason. Their sound is self-described as “psychedelic afro-futurism,” and contains elements of jam and jazz-fusion. Amasa Hines also have traces of soul, Afro-beat, psychedelic, blues dub and indie. Their debut album, All The World There Is, was released in 2014 independent of any major record label. Using many different artists as influences from all across the musical spectrum, this performance from February 20, 2016 at the Daytrottervenue in Davenport, Iowa is a sure winner.

All five members of this group are exemplary players and they have a blatant musical chemistry together. Many of the songs on this footage stretch beyond the 10-minute mark, and the longest clocks in at 22 minutes. If you watch this performance, get ready for a lot of high-energy jamming in the style of Phish, The Allman Brothers and My Morning Jacket. In addition to the traditional rock instruments, they also incorporate saxophone into the mix, which adds a nice texture to their jazz-based sound. Improvisation is clearly the name of the game here. For all fans of great music, Amasa Hines is a name that you definitely want to keep on your radar.